Krickstein's Luck Changes

Becker Strong In Quarters, Plays 'Best' Open Match

NEW YORK — Aaron Krickstein was the guy you'd expect it from, the one with the medical chart as a resume.

But playing his first Grand Slam quarterfinal Wednesday at the U.S. Open, Jay Berger was the one who couldn't make it, retiring because of leg cramps with Krickstein leading, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 1-0.

Go figure.

Krickstein, 22, who made his first big splash here as a 16-year-old when he reached the round of 16 as a junior wild card, will play Boris Becker in Saturday's semifinal. The other semifinal will pit today's winners of the Jimmy Connors-Andre Agassi match against the winner of Ivan Lendl-Tim Mayotte.

Becker defeated Yannick Noah on Wednesday night, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, in what was supposed to be the match of the day on the men's card. Instead, Becker, who is going for his first Grand Slam title outside of Wimbledon, looked as if he were on the grass courts of the All-England Club, serving and volleying with ease en route to his 1-hour, 54-minute pasting of his unseeded opponent.

''If I can remember over the five years I have played here, I've always had to struggle a little to win,'' Becker said. ''Today was my most consistent and best match here. Every day I play a little better.''

For Krickstein, the tournament's 14th-seeded player, playing well didn't really matter. He has lucked out in more ways than one in this tournament, first making it through a bracket that Mats Wilander and John McEnroe once occupied, and then facing a player who was weakened in the second set.

''Obviously you don't want to win a match like that,'' said Krickstein, who himself has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. ''Jay is a friend of mine and I would much rather have won the match straight out. But I've had some bad luck myself in my career so I'll take anything I can get.''

Krickstein was leading, 3-2, in the third set when Berger's cramps, which began in his left thigh, became debilitating. Berger, seeded 11th, allowed three serves to go by untouched then served underhanded and dropped the next game to trail, 5-2. Berger made some effort in the eighth game, but it didn't help much as he lost the set.

He retired trailing, 0-1, in the fourth. ''The tension may have gotten the best of me and I must have done something improperly preparing for the match,'' Berger said. ''I felt very tired after the first set and after the second I was feeling pretty bad also, and I cramped really badly. It would have been absolutely stupid to continue the match.''

Krickstein said he was confident he would have defeated Berger anyway.

''I'd like to show people that I still have some good tennis in me and that it wasn't a fluke in '84,'' said Krickstein, a former disciple of Nick Bollettieri's. ''You never know. I can play a great match on Saturday and be in the finals. It's a great opportunity. Let's just see if I can take advantage of it.''

Meanwhile, defending women's champion Steffi Graf and third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini, who met in last year's final, will face each other in Friday's semifinals by virtue of their victories.

Graf, in her usual fashion, dispatched Helena Sukova, 6-1, 6-1, in 44 minutes. Sabatini had a tougher time with French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, defeating her, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, for the eighth time in nine tries.